Candidates for the Pembroke mayor’s seat and city council got an opportunity to tell voters how they will govern if elected during a forum Tuesday night at the J. Dixie Harn Community Center.
And, as expected, growth and change was at the center of just about everything discussed at the nonpartisan event organized and hosted by the Bryan County Democratic Committee and Bryan County Republican Party. A similar one is set for 6:30 p.m. Thursday at the Richmond Hill City Center.
Pembroke is only about nine miles west of Hyundai Motor Group’s Metaplant America, which is expected to begin full production early in 2025 but is already beginning to transform nearby North Bryan communities such as Black Creek and Blitchton. That impact is just beginning to be felt, candidates said Longtime District 1 council member Johnnie Miller, running unopposed, quoted from an old Sam Cooke song, saying “a change is going to come,” to a city which has managed to avoid much of the rapid growth in residential and commercial development experienced in Richmond Hill and Pooler.
“A change is coming quick,” added Miller, a Pembroke native who starred at and later came back to coach at Bryan County High School. “Whoever comes in will have to be ready to go and get to work, because we have a big task.”
Retired teacher and District 3 council member Diane Moore, also running unopposed, said seeing the growth coming was hard, adding, “We need some growth, but we definitely need it to be controlled. There are certain things we don’t want to see changed.
Moore added, “We didn’t make these choices, others made them for us. We’ve got to do what we can to prepare for the changes coming this way.”
Unlike in many cities, which have staggered terms, Pembroke voters have the opportunity to elect an entirely new mayor and council every four years, though in reality that has rarely happened in recent decades. But it can make for crowded candidate’s forums, and Tuesday night’s included seven of the nine candidates hoping to win a seat.
In addition to Miller and Moore, the forum was attended by mayoral candidates Tiffany Zeigler, the current mayor pro-tem and a 16-year veteran of city council, and former city clerk Sharroll Fanslau, a longtime resident and former director of the Pembroke Downtown Development Authority who was asked to step down in 2020 but later received a public apology from the city administrator at the time.
Zeigler, the granddaughter of former mayor Harry Owens and a Pembroke native and businesswoman whose family owns Owens Supply Company, said her experience on council and through the Georgia Municipal Association will benefit the city as it changes.
“As our city goes through changes it’s important to have people with experience and connections,” said Zeigler, a BCHS and UGA grad who went back to her alma mater in Athens to get a master’s degree in public administration. “I’ve gained a lot of knowledge and a lot of experience in the last few years, but every day it’s important to continue learning, because we’re going to learn more as we go through this with the growth.”
Fanslau, a Midwesterner who has lived in Pembroke 18 years and helped open the Heritage Bank office in Pembroke years ago, said her strength is her willingness to listen to everyone.
“Changes are inevitable, we know that,” she said. We just need to make sure we keep our small town attitude and not try to destroy it. None of us want to lose it. We know we’re going to lose some of it, but some growth is needed. We need more houses, residences, need more activities. My goal is to help do that.”
District 2 incumbent Karen Lynn, a Pembroke native and BCHS teacher facing a challenge from Sharon Lewis, said growth was “double-edged,” and “could be a bad thing, or a good thing,” and the challenge was to work together with residents to make it good growth.
Lewis, who ran for mayor in 2019, did not attend the forum. Organizers said she did not give a reason. Also not attending was District 4 candidate Edward Winter, who also did not give a reason for not attending, organizers said.
District 4 candidate Ed Bacon did attend, however. The Pembroke native, Vietnam veteran and former three-term Bryan County commissioner, said he was pro-growth.
“To be clear for everybody, I am for growth,” he said. “For too many years I’ve watched kids grow up and go through college, smart kids who graduate and can’t get a job here.”
Bacon and his wife Jean, the former director of the Development Authority of Bryan County, were both instrumental in developing the Interstate Center at the I-16 interchange. Bacon said he helped modernize county government during his three terms on the commission. “I have the life long knowledge and experience to succeed.”
Also attending were candidates for the at-large post, incumbent Ernie Hamilton and challenger Jerry Gallishaw Sr.
Hamilton, another Pembroke native and Vietnam veteran who has spent 16 years on council and another 18 years with public works, said he’s pro growth, but “I want controlled growth.
Gallishaw, a 1985 BCHS graduate and former employee of “Statesboro packaging aka Union Camp aka International Paper,” who is now self-employed, said he also wants to see a change.
“The reason why I’m running is I know what Pembroke was, I know what Pembroke is, I know what Pembroke can be. I want to be a part of a great Pembroke future.”
After a moment of silence for Israel and the Gaza strip, Republican Party Chairwoman Karen Hewitt and Democratic Committee Chairwoman Patti Hewitt – the two are not related – alternated asking questions of the candidates.
Up first was growth management.
Zeigler said the city should look at requiring impact fees on development to help subsidize the increase in services the city will have to provide, while also ensuring Pembroke’s ordinances are updated to require more green space and better manage growth so “it’s not concrete all over the place.”
Fanslau said the city needs to work closely with Bryan County. “They’ve got to realize we are our own city,” she said, noting Pembroke will have limits it wants to set on growth. But she also noted the city already has both a comprehensive plan and ordinances.
“We need to pay a little bit closer attention to our own rules,” Fanslau said.
Lynn said it’s time to get started on infrastructure, especially in terms of public safety, water and sewer, and roads.
“You have to work with (Georgia Department of Transportation), you have to work with Bryan County and you have to work with all these developers,” she said, and “incorporate green spaces and parks. But we have to lay the groundwork now, we can’t wait for it to happen … we all know what’s on the way.”
Bacon said the city already has some 280,000 acres of green space in its back yard, with 40 percent of that comprised of wetlands.
“That doesn’t leave a whole lot of room for growth to take place here,” he said, noting rural landowners are being approached by developers. “If you’ve got a lot of land, some body is trying to buy it from you. Growth is coming.”
Bacon also said he’s like to see the city’s planning and zoning board resign and a new board picked, and even if current board members were returned, he would want input into its decisions.
Hamilton said he was for controlled growth, while Gallishaw added “everyone here is pretty much saying the same thing.”
“I do want to see growth, but how you grow is important,”Gallishaw said, adding, “I think good government starts with being able to listen and respond thoughtfully.”
He said he’d look at working with elected and appointed officials in the city and county as well as residents to determine “how this city grows.”
Protecting the environment
Candidates largely echoed one another on the importance of preserving the city’s trees – Pembroke is a Tree City -- and wetlands. Fanslau noted it was important to preserve the city’s greenspace while Lynn said climate change had to be factored into planning. She also said it was important to educate residents and encourage “climate friendly practices,” whether it was “buying green vehicles or looking at recycling.
“It all kind of dovetails into helping the environment,” Lynn said.
Bacon said he’s long been a conservationist, citing experience in the soil conservation service. Hamilton noted the city has a tree ordinance and drainage ditches, and keeping them clean will help the environment.
Gallishaw said he’d encourage new business to take measure such as installing solar panels to help the environment. He said he’s a believer in climate change and the impact development is having.
“If we keep on we’ll have wild hogs in the back yard and deer in the front yard,” he said. “Because animals won’t have any place to go, that’s their natural habitat.”
Zeigler said it’s important to require commercial developers incorporate green space in their landscaping while also using buffers and other means to protect the city’s natural assets.
“We need to be making sure where we take it away, we put it back in some form of fashion,” she said.
Water conservation
Candidates were also asked more specifically how they’d save water, as Pembroke is inside the Georgia Environmental Protection Division’s Yellow Zone and cannot pump more water than its currently allocated. That led the city in recent years to reach an agreement with neighboring Bulloch County to sink a well there.
Fanslau said conservation is key, and could include monitoring water usage for watering yards. Lynn said a program to catch rainwater and use it for plants and gardens might help limit use of groundwater.
Bacon, meanwhile, said water used for irrigation should come from shallow wells and “re-use’ water treated by the city’s wastewater treatment plant.
Hamilton said better drainage would help save both water and the environment. Gallishaw said he would hold an open forum to get feedback from residents. “Council doesn’t have all the answers,” he said. “They should listen to citizens for ideas on how things should be run.”
Zeigler said the water pumped from city’s well in Bryan County is for commercial and residential development, while the well in Bulloch is only for residential development. She said the city has to continue to monitor stormwater infiltration into the city’s wastewater treatment plant and aging pipes to help save water. She too said education was key in helping people understand the importance of conserving water, whether it was through the 4-H program for kids or through other organizations in the county.
Small business development: Candidates had various ideas on how to encourage more small business, with Lynn suggesting incentives to help bring business into the city. Bacon said demographics will dictate the businesses that choose to open in Pembroke, but taking a look at zoning regulations will help. “When you’re trying to grow something you take your zoning regulations and make them more friendly,” he said. “When you want to tighten up growth you apply more pressure through the ordinances.”
Hamilton said it starts with demand. “My first suggestion would be to shop local. Shop in town. Don’t go out and buy stuff.”
Gallishaw said he’s for working through planning and zoning to find out what businesses the city needs and going from there.
“We need to be looking at what businesses most people want to come and what type of businesses are we looking at coming,” he said. “We don’t have a place to eat on Sunday after breakfast, nothing stays open after 12. All these things have to be taken into consideration before we make these types of decisions.”
Ziegler said growing up in local business and serving as chairman of the DDA gives her a unique perspective, and said business owners often don’t have time to look for available resources.
“We need a tool box of resources available to them, whether in a packet or something else, these resources should be available,” she said, listing a number of revolving loan funds and tax credits available in Pembroke.
“It’s critical helping these businesses understand what resources are out there,” she said, noting it’s also important to add more commercial space in the city.”
Fanslau agreed with Zeigler but said a lot of commercial property owners in the city are “apprehensive about renting or leasing areas.”
“We have vacancy, we do need to grow commercial space,” she said, adding, “we don’t want people to buy us out, we want it to stay local, we want the mom and pop shops and love the ones that have come in and continue to come in.”
Fanslau said the city also needs a workforce to be able to shop local.
“Without a workforce we can bring in all the business we want, but without that it’s not going to succeed,” she said.
Quality of life
Candidates were asked about bringing in affordable housing, which brought varied responses.
“We have enough affordable houses in Pembroke,” Bacon said. “What we’ve got to do is upgrade living standards and get some of these houses that are affordable into a higher grade. In order to have good growth we need a higher standard of homes built.”
Hamilton said there are places in the city where homes can be built, but “we need to bring in more jobs for people in the city that would pay a decent salary.”
Galllishaw said opportunities at the Mega-Site will help provide a better quality of life, but it’s important to have “affordable housing for everybody.
“Everybody deserves to have a better opportunity to have a better quality of life,” he said.
Zeigler, who for years has spearheaded the city’s efforts to build affordable “workforce” housing, noted her son recently graduated from high school and is making $18 an hour at Gulfstream but can’t afford to buy a home in Pembroke. She said it’s important to look at the types of housing for young families and senior citizens, and work together to ensure housing is affordable.
Fanslau said her experience in banking showed her how difficult it can be to afford a home, and the city’s senior population, living on a fixed income, can’t be neglected. She suggested looking at refurbishing existing vacant homes or establishing a revolving loan fund.
Lynn said the city’s efforts to date include Ash Branch Manor for seniors and Sawmill Landing for workers. “It’s definitely got to be cost effective,” she said. “We do have low income here, we have a lot of elderly here, and it’s going to take input from everybody, developers, stakeholders, the government, everyone, to make single family housing affordable, whether they want to rent or purchase.”
Candidates were also asked to be specific about their qualifications for office, and to give an example in which they successfully united people for a cause.
Gallishaw went first. “I have no experience in that area, but I need to say I am a person of great faith, and I am visually impaired,” he said. “I want to be able to be an advocate for people with some kind of impairment or disability, and make this city better for them.
He added, “Everybody doesn’t see things the same way, and I’m one of them. I’m not ashamed of that … I would like to try to work with incumbents and whomever. I don’t have all the answers, but I want to work with city residents to make this city a better place to live” Hamilton cited his experience with the city and his familiarity with its public works has helped the city grow. “I’m proud of that, I think the experience I’ve brought to the city helps the city,” he said.
Zeigler said her experience with the Georgia Initiative for Community Housing, usually shortened to GICH, resulted in joining a team of 30 members and working with the military, churches, schools, business owners and others to change housing in Pembroke.
The result, she said, were Sawmill Landing, Ash Branch Manor, which in turn incorporated McFadden Place under the ownership of National Church Residences, and CHIP projects such as Camellia Drive.
Fanslau also was a part of the GICH program, calling it “one of the best things I’ve ever done,” and also recalled her experience helping open Heritage Bank and helping residents refinance or buy a home.
Lynn said she can’t recall a single incident but her experience as a teacher and coach have had an impact on her.
“The most difficult and rewarding thing can be to work with another group of teachers to get a student to buy into themselves,” she said. “To get them to understand they can do what they want to do, and to be successful sometimes it’s as simple as getting a student to pass that test. I experience that on weekly basis, and nothing compares to that.”
Lynn added that her two terms of council have been enjoyable, and “I like feeling like I’m paying back,” she said. “I love this city and I’m proud of it, and I’d certainly like to continue to help make it grow and prosper.”
Bacon said his experience as a soil conservationist and county commissioner gave him insight into what it takes to be a leader and recognize those who were coming into the community to make a profit.
“We’re getting the same type of people here,” he said. “They don’t care what the infrastructure is like, they’re just interested in making a quick buck and getting out of town.”
Pembroke, he said, needs to overhaul its zoning ordinances.
Closing statements
Candidates were also given time for closing statements. Zeigler said experience was important because preparing for the growth to come “is almost like planning on steroids.
“There’s probably been a lot more planning in the last 15-16 months than there has been in the last 10 years and it’s important to continue to do that,” she said, while also emphasizing the importance of contacts and networks at the local, regional and state level.
Fanslau said she’s a “major believer in this city,” and also praised the incumbents.
“With the right people in the seats of our government I think we can carry on,” she said. “The ones in there now are unbelievable, I will not deny that one bit. They are all excellent at what they do, but I want to help not just as a prior city clerk, but to continue on helping.”
Lynn thanked those at the event or watching online for their interest in city government.
“Growth is coming,” she said. “We’ve said that 100 times and will continue to say it 100 times. We have to get ready for it, you have to get ready for it, and we need you to continue giving us input and continue your interest and help us out.”
Bacon said he wrote a story for the local paper 25 years ago in which he said “the only noticeable change in Pembroke is the ice house is gone and oak trees are dying.
“Now try to cross Highway 280 in the afternoon,” he added. “Growth is not just here but in all the communities around us. I’d like to be a part of managing that in the city.”
Hamilton said he was “proud of being here, proud of seeing y’all tonight and I think my experience with the city is a plus.
“I enjoy working with the city working for the people in the city,” he said, adding that he’s “looking for re-election for another four years.”
Gallishaw said he was glad the event was on Zoom and online and urged city council to do the same with monthly meetings, or at least post information on meetings on the city website the next day, “so (residents) can see what’s voted on, or voted against and what’s about to happen. Out residents are taxpayers we are all taxpayers.”
He paused and said “And even though I’m running against this man (Hamilton) here, and everyone loves him, the time has come. I’m asking you to consider me as your councilman at large.”
Gallishaw was followed by Miller, who noted he has more time on council than anyone and praised former mayor Mary Warnell and incumbent Judy Cook, saying “I’ve worked under a bunch of mayors, seen them coming, seen them going. There’s something about a woman mayor.”
He added that Pembroke residents know what can happen if growth isn’t managed.
“We’ve seen a Richmond Hill, we’ve seen it, we’ve seen a Pooler, which had one red light and you better make sure you stop at that,” he said. “We’ve seen what they’ve become.”